The head of the Coast Guard called the December 2009 boat crash that killed a San Diego boy a “disappointing” failure of leadership and said he has responded by calling for a philosophical change that pushes his senior officers to better oversee young crew members.

In San Diego Wednesday, Commandant Adm. Robert Papp spoke about the death of 8-year-old Anthony DeWeese and the subsequent National Transportation Safety Board report, which last month ripped the Coast Guard for lax oversight of its small-patrol-boat crews — both nationally and in San Diego.

“I think we can do better,” Papp said, in an interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune.

“It’s really a mindset, philosophical issue. We need to get our leaders, the officers in charge, the chief petty officers, out there with their people supervising them.”

Those senior people are supposed to ensure “that the (boat driver) is clearly not just qualified, but is experienced and proficient and has demonstrated the signs of maturity that are necessary,” he said.

Papp said that while the NTSB’s criticism “hurts,” he added, “They are telling the truth. And it’s nothing that I didn’t know myself after looking into it after the accident.”

Anthony DeWeese was killed when a 33-foot Coast Guard patrol boat crashed into his family’s 24-foot pleasure craft during a 2009 holiday boat parade on San Diego Bay.

The Coast Guard boat was responding to a nonemergency call of a sailboat stuck in the mud.

The federal transportation board determined that the 21-year-old Coast Guard boat pilot was driving too fast — at speeds just over 40 knots minutes before the crash.

The NTSB also raised concern about a pattern of too much speed in Coast Guard boat accidents.

The Coast Guard commandant said speed is a judgment issue.

“Do you tie their hands too much, where you make them too cautious? And perhaps you lose the life that you’re trying to save? You certainly don’t want to give them limitless authority,” said Papp, 59, whose own boat career was served mostly on large cutters, not the small, fast patrol craft that the Coast Guard has purchased since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

He said he can’t hand down exact speed limits when circumstances vary. The judgment required to make wise speed decisions goes back to leadership, Papp said.

“We’ve got to have senior leaders out there evaluating those people that are going to make those judgments,” he said.

“If I’ve got to stick a chief petty officer out on every one of those boats to make sure they are doing their job properly, we may need to get to that.”

No Coast Guard officers have been punished for the DeWeese death. The Coast Guard captain in charge of the San Diego operation in 2009 retired on schedule this summer.

The boat pilot, Petty Officer 3rd Class Paul Ramos, was acquitted by a military jury of negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter charges. He served three months for a single conviction of dereliction of duty.